diff --git a/src/pylibftdi/bitbang.py b/src/pylibftdi/bitbang.py
index 98b260f..65cabbd 100644
--- a/src/pylibftdi/bitbang.py
+++ b/src/pylibftdi/bitbang.py
@@ -158,7 +158,10 @@ def port(self):
 
     @port.setter
     def port(self, value):
+        # restrict to a single byte
+        value &= 0xFF
         self._latch = value
         if self.sync:
             self.flush_output()
-        return super().write(chr(value))
+        # note to_bytes() gets these as default args in Python3.11+
+        return super().write(value.to_bytes(1, "big"))